During product development, it is common to use software simulation during a portion of product development of certain products, such as electronic hardware. For example, software may be used to create a proof of concept and test some operational characteristics of a proposed electronic device during product development. Often, after software simulation is performed, a working prototype is created that is different than and separate from the software simulation, but is often developed using information learned from the software simulation. In effect, the software simulation and the working prototype stages are separate and distinct stages which are independently designed and rely on different resources. Thus, as currently performed, software simulation and creation of a working prototype share no efficiencies and do not easily accommodate an intermediary stage that incorporates elements of both the software simulation and the working prototype.
In product testing, it can be helpful to test differences in performance of different configurations. For example, a test may be created to measure differences in battery performance of different versions of an electronic device. Such a test may be simple when performed on a software simulation or when performed on a working prototype. However, this type of product testing is not conducive to hybrid systems that may attempt to compare performance of a component implemented in a software simulation to performance of the actual physical component while keeping other components and factors constant between tests because software simulation and working prototypes are typically separate and distinct stages which are independently designed and rely on different resources.